Malta Wrestlers Hosting Two Events This Weekend; Harlem and Chinook Recap

The Malta Wrestling teams will be hosting the 2023 Malta Mixer and Malta Athletic Club Invitational Tournament event this weekend.

The Malta Mixer is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. on Friday, January 27. The Invitational Tournament is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 28.

Twenty teams have been invited for this weekend's Malta Athletic Club Invitational, though the list doesn't confirm who will be at the event. Those listed are Big Sandy, Billings Central, CJI (Chester-Joplin-Inverness), Chinook, Choteau, Circle, Colstrip, Conrad, Cut Bank, Forsyth, Fort Benton, Glasgow, Great Falls CMR, Great Fall High School, Harlem, Havre, Huntley Project, Malta/Whitewater, Shelby, and Wolf Point.

The wrestlers went to Chinook and Harlem for a pair of mixer events last week on Friday, January 20, and Saturday, January 21, respectively. The Harlem event was originally slated to be an Invitational but due to schools dropping out, the event was dubbed a mixer.

Malta went 11-3 at the Chinook Mixer and 9-6 at the Harlem Mixer.

At Harlem, things started off slow for Malta as the team went 1-5, the only win being a pin by Spencer Gibbs (205) over Shelby's Ryan Simpson at 2:56.

In the second round, Malta went 4-1. At 160, Colton Honey pinned Harlem's Dustin Adams in 1:20. Colton was named the team's Wrestler of the Week by Malta's coaching staff.

"Colton has been working hard and it is starting to show," Malta Wrestling Head Coach Jake French said.

At 170, Colton Mears pinned Shelby's Ayden Davis in 5:33. At 182, Camryn Mears pinned Harlem's Kendon Young in 1:56. Gibbs grabbed his second pin of the event by pinning Jadeen Henshaw of Glasgow in 3:06.

In the third round, Malta won their final four matches of the Harlem Mixer. Straud Sims, wrestling at 138, pinned Hawken Hakkanson of Harlem in 1:11. Honey pinned Chinook's Wyatt Olmstead in 1:06. His pin of Olmstead was Malta's Quickpin of the Week. Co. Mears pinned Harlem's Sebastian Rutherford in 2:58, and Gibbs pinned Glasgow's Ethan Nickels in 3:04.

One day prior in Chinook, Malta went 5-1 in the first round. Wrestling at 132, Kohner "Chaka" Schipman pinned Chinook's Owen Davies at 5:37. Sims pinned Haakanson in 3:26. Wrestling at 145, Taylin Johannesen pinned Shelby's Evan Clark in 5:24. Cam Mears pinned Nickels in 3:31, and Gibbs pinned Ryan Simpson of Shelby in 2:50.

Gibbs' win over Simpson was named the team's Most Exciting Match because Simpson is a heavyweight. Gibbs wrestled up and Coach French said that Gibbs dominated the match.

Malta went 5-2 in the second round. Schipman pinned Harlem's Joe Arensmeyer in 3:52. Honey pinned Olmstead in 3:46. Co. Mears pinned Davis in 3:04. Cam Mears pinned Young in 3:06. Gibbs pinned Henshaw in 1:12.

In round three, Mears was the lone Malta wrestler, but he picked up a win over Sam Cox of Big Sandy by pinfall at 2:56.